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. 2025 Sep 30;25(1):1239.
doi: 10.1186/s12913-025-13474-2.

Enhancing mental health outcomes through a theory of change: supporting open-source data science platforms to promote FAIR data and evidence-based decisions

Bylhah Mugotitsa  1   2 , Pauline Andeso  3 , Henry Owoko  3 , Reinpeter Momanyi  3 , Dorothy Mailosi  4 , Joshua Ssebunnya  5 , Benjamin Tsofa  6 , Jay Greenfield  4 , Agnes Kiragga  3 , Jim Todd  7 ; INSPIRE network
Affiliations

Enhancing mental health outcomes through a theory of change: supporting open-source data science platforms to promote FAIR data and evidence-based decisions

Bylhah Mugotitsa et al. BMC Health Serv Res. .

Abstract

Introduction: Mental health disorders remain a significant public health challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as Kenya and Uganda due to limited resources, stigma, and inadequate service integration. The INSPIRE Mental Health (MH) Project aims to address these challenges by developing an open-source data science platform that aligns with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data principles. A Theory of Change (ToC) was developed to guide project implementation.

Methods: A participatory approach was employed, involving targeted intrest holder engagements through workshops, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews with policymakers, healthcare providers, Village Health Team (VHT) members, data managers, researchers, and community representatives. All participants provided informed consent be- fore inclusion in the study. Collected data was transcribed, cleaned, and analyzed using Atlas.ti, employing thematic analysis to identify emerging themes. The insights gained in- formed the development of the ToC, which visually maps causal linkages between project activities, assumptions, and anticipated outcomes.

Findings: Interest-holders identified key challenges in mental health service delivery, including fragmented services, inadequate funding, and limited data management capacity. The findings were categorized into five themes: (1) mental health program design, (2) bur- den assessment, (3) screening and assessment tools, (4) data reporting and utilization, (5) prospects for longitudinal studies. Participants emphasized the need for standardized data collection, improved reporting systems, and capacity building in data science techniques to support evidence-based decision-making.

Conclusion: The ToC framework offers a strategic roadmap to enhance mental health service delivery and data utilization, fostering collaboration and sustainability. By promoting FAIR data principles and interest holder engagement, the project aims to support informed mental health interventions in Kenya and Uganda.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-025-13474-2.

Keywords: Data science; FAIR principles; Interest holder engagement; Interventions; Kenya; Mental health; Theory of change; Uganda.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study was conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki, ensuring the ethical adherence of all participants involved in the interest holder engagements. Internal ethical approval was obtained from the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) (DOR/2023/047) and Strathmore University, while external ethical approval was obtained from the KEMRI Scientific and Ethics Review Unit (SERU) (Approval No. 29012024) and NACOSTI (Approval No. P/24/41708). All participants provided informed written consent before their inclusion in the study. Role of the members: The INSPIRE network is a network of population health providers, with the objective of harmonizing, sharing and analyzing the data from the network. As such many members have contributed data, expertise and code to enable the network and the mental health work to succeed. For that reason, we would like to acknowledge the contributions of members across the whole network. For further inquiries regarding the consortia, please contact the nominated representative, Pauline Andeso, at pandeso@aphrc.org. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Theory of change map for the INSPIRE: mental health project. This figure outlines the proposed changes, description of the theory of change including activities, assumptions, short term, intermediate, long term and overall impact of the project
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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